A short pre-game fireworks show lit up the early Friday evening sky above Baylor's Heywood Stadium.

Baylor junior quarterback Jacob Huesman might not have lit the fuse to those fireworks, but he did help light up the Red Raider side of the scoreboard as he orchestrated a 24-10 win against arch rival McCallie in a high school football game.

Huesman rushed for 106 yards on 13 carries and a second-quarter touchdown and was 7-of-9 passing for 76 yards.

On a night when the overflow crowd of 6,000 plus dressed in the traditional red and blue recognized a pair of war-tested U.S. military veterans who had played in this rivalry game - Baylor alum Nate Rawlings and McCallie grad Penn Garvich - Baylor had the upper hand in total offense, 336 yards to 209, and led in takeaways, 4-1, as the Red Raiders ended McCallie's 11-game win streak.

“I had a lot of confidence in our offense to be able to move the ball tonight and that is what we did,'' said Huesman, playing in his first McCallie-Baylor game, and who was only able to toss a mini football with his dad, Russ Huesman, the current Tennessee at Chattanooga head football coach the last time (1997) Baylor won in this series and not allowed to play with fireworks.

“This rivalry is crazy and I thought I would be nervous, but I really wasn't,'' stated Huesman who moved to Chattanooga from Richmond prior to this school year.

Even when McCallie drove 80 yards on 12 plays to pull within seven at 17-10 with 7:39 remaining in the fourth quarter on a T.J. Kemp 1-yard run.

“I knew we could turn around and drive down the field,'' he said.

The junior made sure he could back up his belief as he sprinted 47 yards through the McCallie defense to the Blue Tornado 11 three plays later.

Sophomore running back Nelson Pinkstaff scored from the five after a McCallie penalty and the first win against the crosstown rival since before most of the players could spell victory, much less be factors in one, seemed imminent.

The visitors put points on the scoreboard first on a 48-yard first quarter field goal by sophomore Arturo Rocha for a 3-0 lead at 1:52.

After recovering a Baylor fumble at the Baylor 40, the Tornado marched to the 28-yard line to set up Rocha's kick which would have been good from 58.

Baylor then scored 17 unanswered points – touchdown runs by Huesman and Sam Williams and a James Bird field goal – before McCallie's fourth quarter drive.

Baylor also had a touchdown called back on its opening drive as an illegal motion penalty negated a Huesman 11-yard scoring run.

The McCallie defense, led by Kemp and Midoho Okpokowuruk, then made its first of two stops in the game on fourth-and-short situations.

Huesman's run on fourth-and-three from the nine lost four yards and McCallie gained possession.

Huesman did score from six yards out at 3:43 of the second quarter for a lead (8-3), one the hosts would never relinquish.

On the next possession, good blocking by the Baylor line and some hard running on his own, Williams, who led all rushers with 116 yards on 22 carries, broke several tackles on a 17-yard run up the middle to pay dirt to make it 14-3, 1:16 prior to halftime.

The Williams' run was set up by a Red Raider fumble recovery at the McCallie 38-yard line with just under 3:00 before half. McCallie was looking to score or run out the half when the fumble gave Baylor the scoring opportunity.

“Baylor's two-back set on offense (Pinkstaff and Williams) was something we had not seen before and that gave us some problems,'' said McCallie coach Rick Whitt. “Our guys played hard and we had some chances to stop them, but we missed too many tackles.''

McCallie's fourth quarter scoring drive was led by sophomore quarterback Trent Lusk who directed the 12-play, 80-yard drive, culminating with Kemp's 1-yard run and a 17-10 Baylor advantage. Kemp led McCallie with 47 yards rushing on 10 carries. Lusk completed three passes in the drive and was 11-of-22 for 208 yards on the night with three interceptions.

“It (Friday's win) doesn't stop here,'' said Baylor coach Phil Massey in post-game comments to his team. “I told you we had something special so stay with us.

''I told the team before the game that they were prepared to do this job and to have confidence to execute and be successful,'' he stated. ''Our coaches did a great job in preparing the guys for tonight's win.''

Baylor improves to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in D-II play, while McCallis is 4-3 overall and 1-3 in D-II.

U.S. Army Veterans Honored Captain Nate Rawlings, who retired from active duty on Thursday and Captain Penn Garvich who is currently stationed at Fort Campbell (Ky.) stood at midfield before kickoff.

Rawlings, who is currently working on a Master's at Columbia University thanks to the G.I. Bill, earned two Bronze Stars in trips to Iraq in 2006 and 2008.

“I would like to work in some type of foreign policy job as a journalist if at all possible,'' said Rawlings who wrestled at Princeton and was a member of the Tigers' Ivy League rugby team champs.

Garvich is with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell and has served in Afghanistan and Korea.

“It is really tough being a soldier in Afghanistan,'' said Garvich. “You are constantly on alert and have no idea when or where the next attack is coming from.''

Garvich lettered in four sports at McCallie (all-city and all-state in football), before a football career at Furman and led the Blue Tornado to a 37-7 win in this series in 1999.

What Are Friends For: Former McCallie head athletic trainer Doug May can be found in the Baylor training room or on the sidelines at games this fall.

May is a good friend of Eddie Davis, his counterpart at Baylor, and offered to help out this summer due to Davis' busier than normal schedule with his wife's cancer treatments.

“I am helping out a friend in need and that's what it is all about,'' stated May.

Remembering a Teammate: McCallie senior T.J. Kemp wore No. 3 Friday night instead of his usual No. 30 in recognition of senior quarterback Kennon Rush who had a season-ending knee injury in the first game.

Attending in Spirit: Former Baylor quarterback and pitcher Tyler Massey talked with Baylor baseball coach Gene Etter via cell phone after the game ... Massey is playing winter ball in the Arizona instructional league for the Colorado Rockies organization.

Massey batted .220 with two home runs and 38 RBIs this past season for the Asheville (N.C.) Tourists of the Class A South Atlantic League.

Kudos to Security: Security, Chattanooga police and school officials are to be commended for getting fans in and out of the Baylor campus for the game. Parking on the lower campus area was organized and traffic exiting the back campus gate went smoothly.

Series Record: Baylor leads 38-35-3 (according to McCallie records) or 38-33-3 (according to Baylor records)

Games at Heywood Stadium: McCallie leads, 8-6 ... Baylor's last win at home prior to this year was a 21-7 triumph in 1997 in an TSSAA playoff game.

Baylor 24, McCallie 10

McCallie 3 – 0 – 0 – 7 = 10
Baylor 0 - 14 – 3 – 7 = 24

McC – Arturo Rocha 48 field goal; 1:52, 1st Q (5 plays, 23 yards), McCallie, 3-0
Bay – Jacob Huesman 6 run (Michael Trundle pass), 3:43, 2nd Q (10 plays, 75 yards), Bay, 7-3
Bay – Sam Williams 17 run (pass failed), 1:16, 2nd Q (5 plays, 38 yards), Bay, 14-3
Bay – James Bird 31 field goal; 0:10, 3rd Q (13 plays, 51 yards), Bay, 17-3
McC - T.J. Kemp 1 run (Hudson Brock kick), 7:39, 4th Q (12 plays, 80 yrds), Bay, 17-10
Bay – Nelson Pinkstaff 5 run (Bird kick), 3:45, 4th Q (3 plays, 57 yards), Bay, 24-0

Records: Baylor (5-1, 2-1), McCallie (4-3, 1-3)

Interceptions: Baylor; Channing Gordon (2), Brandon Eaves

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net